About "Me"

Ahem, Me is in the prime of life. Me holds a PhD and is trying to be jobless. Me masquerades the time spent on the net as doing research in Artificial Intelligence. Me desists from praising 'myself', so I won't proceed further :D ...

Thursday, August 31, 2006

On the night before I was to leave for southampton, I lay in bed thinking about the next day and realised that it would be exactly a month since I have graduated .. and as I went back on the months I realised the significance of the ends of the months!! So here it goes ...

31st jan - 1st feb -- the deadline for my paper (which somehow got accepted :D)28th feb - 1st march -- I sent my application to Univ Delaware (which sent me an admit in less than 10 days .. my first admit)31st march - 1st april -- Batch trip (in which I played a considerable role) and Farewell (in which the only role I had to play was precariously hold a burning candle while everyone else was doing the same and jostling each other on the stage ;)) )29th april - 1st may -- My last chance of a phd admit vanishes ...29th may - 1st june -- ........ (I dont remember anything significant .. was totally vella at that time ... maybe I slept without a break on those days :-? )29th june - 30th june -- I am informed that I am being offered a fully funded phd seat (yayy \:d/)29th july -- I am officially a Bachelor (of Technology i.e :D)29th aug -- I reach Southampton (thankfully since no child cried and therefore they didnt divert the plane because of a perceived 'security threat' :D)So lets watch out for Sept 29-30 (incidentally thats the time of the 'international students induction programme' at the univ )

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Well, as I am supposed to join my programme on Sept 1st, am I all set to go, you may ask. And I wont be able to answer!!

On which date am I flying and on which airlines? Not sure yet :-ssWill I be receieved at Heathrow and taken to Southampton? Strong No.So, do I know where to go and how to go? Not totally sure yet.Do I have a place to stay? Have I been allocated accommodation yet? Nope .. not yet.Well, when is the induction program? Maybe that will help me settle down? Its at end of sept .. yeah after a month there .. because, the actual semester starts in Oct!!Anyway, has all my shopping been done? Not really, I cant do much shopping since I cant take much stuff anyway!! Will have to buy most of the stuff there :-sWell well, so have I at least learnt cooking etc? Hope so, havent tested yet!Do I know how much money to take and have I got it ready in Travellers cheques and all? Nope .. I dont know how much to take .. so nothing done on that front either.Have I set up everything at home so that my folks can easily and cheaply keep in touch with me? Nope .. all that I bought dont seem to work :((Finally, at least are all my papers ready? Almost, the medical ones are yet to be ...

You may be aghast at the state of things .. but dont worry! As always, I will do everything at the last minute (in this case the last week) and it shall all turn out just fine!! [-o< ... 2 cheers for optimism !!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

A plane on way from London to Washington was made to land at Boston because some 3 passengers allegedly got into an altercation with the crew. After the flight landed, the whole luggage was dumped on the tarmac, arranged into a rows and columns. Then sniffer dogs were made to go around them all ... All because some irate passengers were unruly on the plane!!

South African cricket team abandons the tri-series in Sri lanka because a bomb went off a few kilometers from their hotel of which the Pakistani high commissioner was the intended target. The Indians are totally unpertubed by the suppposed dangerous situation and have nonchalantly agreed to play a 3 match bilateral series with the disappointed hosts.

Top nuclear scientists of India have expressed their reservations about the controversial nuclear deal and the PM has assured them that their views will be considered.The UPA govt's attempt to undo its best act till now- the RTI, has come in for lot of opposition from the people with some notable social leaders (atleast one) even going on a fast.

Iran organises an holocaust cartoon competition in retaliation to those controversial danish cartoons.

The President dedicates four paragraphs of his independence day speech to Jeevan Vidya!! Many IIITians wonder why ...

Sunday, August 13, 2006

"Is it myth-all-is? Is it my-tales?? No it is my-tha-lez" (The first separation courtesy sreejith, the next, pranav). Every visitor to this blog at some point of time would have wondered what 'mythalez' actually meant. I have often been bombarded with this question. Everytime, I tell someone my messenger id, I can actually see the question forming in their mouth "but what does it mean??". The net savvy among my readers (which must be all of them!!) would have most probably googled the word in their quest for an answer. Alas they would have been faced with the bitter fact that all the results were either pointing to this blog or to the comments I have written somewhere. Some people after a lot of perseveration by repeatedly pestering me would have come to know about the origins of this word. I do wonder how many of them actually understood. Anyways, today I set myself upon this task of explaining the origins of the famed 'Mythalez' -

Once upon a time, in my second year at IIIT, before I had even created a yahoo id for myself, I used to play this game called 'Age of Mythology' a lot. Everyone who ever played age would understand that the villagers utter some sounds when you click on them. So in AOM in my favourite greek civilisation, the villager when clicked would utter 'prosthagma' and then when it is ordered to dig some gold, by clicking on a gold mine, would squeak 'mythalez'. Yeah people, that is the genesis of your dear 'mythalez'.

So the next question that arises is, what does it mean?? I frankly confess that I have no idea. I assume it is greek and maybe it means 'gold'. It may even mean 'the devil' .. who knows :-?? .

Friday, August 11, 2006

Lust for life, the biography of Vincent Van Gogh is what I am reading currently. 3/4ths of the book is over, and until now he is an unrecognised pauper. Since I dont know his life story, its like a thriller for me. And yeah Irving Stone the author writes to my liking.

I get a lot of mails to my gmail account which are not meant for me. No, they are not spam, they are sent by well meaning people who think that my email address belongs to some other person. Many of them include IT companies offering Project Lead jobs :D.. however the most useful contribution has been from the people who sent me their gmail invitations!! I have received and used up four such ones, creating accounts for my relatives and friends. The latest one I got today and used up immediately, after which I get a mail from the sender asking about my well being. He obviously is in the blissfull ignorance that I am his friend and that his gmail invitation has been well used.. But being the ungrateful fellow that I am, I havent replied to him yet informing him of his grave error. What can I say to him anyway? "Sorry, But I am not the person who you think I am. Yeah thanks for that invitation anyway, and do send some more incase you have" :D .. This reminds me I once sent a mail to the person who sent me 2 gmail invitations due to similar misunderstanding, I used them and then replied to him as "Thanks for all the invitations, however can I know why you are sending them to me? I have never ever heard of you in my life." And the poor guy replied with an apology !! :D. He unwittingly does me a favour and then apologizes for it :D.And I gloat about it.And I have those long locks no more ...And instead of those PSs am using AndsAnd I have nothing more to write now which is even worth typing out..

Saturday, August 05, 2006

When he was alone, he craved for company. When he was among people, he desired to be left alone. Change was what he always seemed to need, yet he dreaded it. So, maybe the best recourse for him would be to talk with people yet not be with them. Switch on and off capriciously. The way of the online chat. That was precisely what he was doing now. Late at night, chatting with a few friends, he realised how disconcerting silence could be. He could hear the voice of the characters on tv, though it was on mute. He could hear the wind howling, though it was just a breeze. He feared that his key strokes were making such a racuous noise that they would wake up the neighbours.

Ever felt your instincts so compelling, that you just had to do it though your conscious logical mind said that it was completely hopeless? Yet when you did it, it turned out to be fruitful! Happened often? Yeah with him too. Today was another such day. He had felt that there was no sense in booting the computer at this time in the night, but he found around 3 of his closests friends online! He hadnt talked with two among them for quite some time. There was a 4th too with whom he was chatting, but that was only customary. He was lonely yet amidst conversations. He felt glad and content.

While he was chatting fervently, his observant mind wandered over to think of how typing at this speed also presented him with some real good anagrams. He wanted to type 'hits' but got 'shit', 'how' became 'who', 'read' became 'dear' and so on. Yeah, he had to use backspace a great deal, but it was also so automatic that he didnt even notice it.